Over 100 people jumped on their motorcycles and rode over 400 kilometres to raise awareness and funds for prostate cancer as part of the nationwide Telus Ride for Dad.

A total of 165 riders took part in the 5th-annual Swift Current Ride for Dad on Saturday afternoon and made the trip from Swift Current through Shaunavon, Eastend, Maple Creek and then all the way back.

Video by Ken Audette 

Brent Watson, the co-chair for the Swift Current Motorcycle Ride for Dad, said they were able to raise over $30,000.

"It's awesome. It's going to make a huge difference in men's lives," he said. "It goes to show that the people in southwest Saskatchewan are giving."

The ride also featured Swift Current native and the founder of the Ride for Dad, Garry Janz.

Janz said that this year's Ride for Dad was excellent.

"Ride for Dad is proud of the Swift Current chapter for the Telus Ride for Day," he said. "Everything here was just phenomenal. We had a great turnout today, and we are very proud of this chapter."

Janz said he loves to see all of the support from the smaller communities who host the event.

"The small communities are often where we have the biggest impact. People are aware of what we are doing, and when we did the parade it's all the people on their lawns with lawn chairs, on the sidewalks, waving at us giving us support," he said. "That is so good, and that creates awareness and awareness saves lives because if you get tested, and you get it detected early you get a 90 percent success rate."

The Ride for Dad originally started in 2000 when Janz was doing an interview with some cancer survivors and was talking to a guy who had prostate cancer.

"I was having coffee with him, and I asked him what are you up to this afternoon, and he said 'Gary, If someone would have told me one year early about the PSA test, I wouldn't be going home this afternoon to arrange my own funeral.' That hit me like a ton of bricks," he said. " I started thinking about it, and maybe I can organize an event that could raise some money for prostate cancer, and we hosted the first one in Ottawa."

Janz said that to see how the ride has grown nationwide is amazing.

"It gives a really good feeling," he said. "We have volunteers from coast to coast now, thousands of volunteers and it warms my heart. People come to us and say if it hadn't been for the Ride for Dad I wouldn't have got it checked, and that's the most important."

The money raised will go into research for prostate cancer like that of Dr. Oleg Dmitriev from the University of Saskatchewan who received a cheque for $40,000 from the Swift Current Ride for Dad to continue his research on how to prevent prostate cancer from spreading.

Dr. Oleg Dmitriev receives the $40,000 cheque. (Photo by Tanner Wallace-Scribner)

A total of 27 communities participated in the motorcycle ride nationwide - Swift Current and Saskatoon were the lone Saskatchewan cities taking part.